Are We Fish Yet?

We've hit that point in the summer where it feels like we are doing almost nothing besides swimming. 5 hours of practice every week, followed by another hour or two of free swim most days and 9 hours of swim meets. It's a lot of water time, and both makes the summer feel like it's flying by because we've done very little from our bucket list, but also makes it feel like it's been summer for months already, when we've only been out of school for 3.5 weeks.

 

These kids are doing awesome. Bug PR'd in breast and fly this week. The kid has won most of his individual events the whole season. We're excited to see how the finals go.

 

Bean PR'd in 4 events this week--butterfly was the only one she didn't swim this week. On Tuesday, she had hoped to not have to do the 100 IM, but the coach asked her to do it one more time and she not only shaved almost 5 seconds off her time, but she won! She's been a few seconds behind another girl on our team each time, but that night, it all came together for her. We were so happy--she's been working hard for this.

And then there's the fun side of it all, too. The kids never want to leave because there are always friends around to play with.

They love Friday practices when they get to spend the whole time playing games.

And yet, the games are all helping them get stronger and swim a little faster.

Even messing around on the diving board helps them work on those starts. Both kids are doing better with their dives this year, which is probably a big contributor to the faster times.

 

And then there's the pool rock star. This kid is greeted by people calling his name, both kids and adults alike, every time we go to the pool. He's got a not-so-small fan club going and knows more of the swimmers than I do. And unlike past years where he's been very overwhelmed and shy around the big crowds, this year he's having fun with it. But it still wipes him out. It's hard being in the eye of the public ;) (It's also hard going to bed 3 hours past your bedtime 2 or 3 nights a week.)

 

This Friday, they had a pizza party, which meant food and even more friends sticking around after practice. Good times.

 

Only have 2 more weeks of practice and meets and then we'll have to devise our own summer fun.

The Bowlers

The last 2 weeks have been excruciatingly hot, where even the pool water isn't particularly refreshing. But the bowling alley, the bowling alley was air-conditioned and made for a good change of pace Wednesday afternoon. We went with friends which always ups the fun.

It was Peanut's first bowling experience. When the kids were making up fun bowling names, Peanut  only wanted to be called by his real name.

But when he broke his stoic stance after knocking down his first pins, and started jumping up and down, he earned the nickname "Jumper" which he happily embraced for the rest of the afternoon. At one point, he corrected me when I called him by his given name, "Call me Jumper!"

The best part of Peanut's bowling was the eyeball socks. Having eyes on the back of your legs is crucial to good bowling.

Bug, AKA "Dino", was a little disappointed by his fist game, but redeemed himself with a win the second game.

Bean, AKA "Swimmer". You can take the girl out of the pool, but you can't take the pool out of the girl. . .

 

It was a good change from the 5 hours a day at the pool (which is only a slight exaggeration.)

The Making of a Father

Every few years, these 2 get to share a special day--Father's Day and Bean's birthday. Even though we mostly celebrated Bean the day before, she was pretty excited to have breakfast in bed with her dad this morning. It's very fitting since Bean was the one who made him a father 11 years ago.

 

And what a father he is. This man does so much for our family and these kids. And not only the going to work every day at a job that isn't particularly fulfilling most of the time so we can eat and have a house to live in, which we all appreciate immensely.

 

He shows interest in whatever they are interested in. He's always looking up lego creations or swim videos, learning about the wild animals they like, or researching places we can take them that go along with their current fascinations. 

 

He supports them in things they do, like showing up at swim meets in the sweltering heat (and even when he has other meetings he's supposed to be at) and trying to make it to as many school events as he can.

 

He reads bedtime stories and puts Peanut to bed every single night he is home. It's not always a fun task, although I think he thoroughly enjoys the bedtime snuggles when Peanut isn't being crazy, but he has been doing it for the last 2 years since Peanut became Daddy-obsessed.

 

He listens to them. Sometimes I have trouble keeping my mind on the conversations at hand rather than my to do list, especially when we are driving places, but he's always telling me about the conversation that he had while driving one of the kids to their activities or what they said at bedtime. They love talking to their Daddy.

 

He's good at the physical act of being there and loving them. The hands on, hold them when they're sick, let them crawl all over him when they're excited to see him part of being a dad. Sure, they drive him crazy sometimes, but he lets them get away with it way more and for way longer than I can tolerate and they all know Daddy's the one good for a snuggle.

 

He sets a great example of hard work and service for these kids to see. He works 40-60 hour weeks at his paid job, and then spends another 20-40 hours a week doing his "bishoping" for church, which for those of you who aren't Mormon and may not know, is all unpaid, often thankless, work. And he still manages to make it home for a family dinner almost every single night. He may not get to sleep much, but he makes sure to see his kids every day.

 

He has big plans for them. He has his own hopes and dreams for each of them, but he's great about seeing their strengths and thinks about what they might want to do someday, what they may be good at, and he's ready to do what he can to help them find those dreams.

 

He very obviously loves his kids and being their dad. He tells them every day, and shows them in a million ways. I'm sure they don't always understand, but someday, probably when they are parents themselves, they will realize how much their dad loves them and how much he has done for them.

A Man, A Plan, A Canal--Panama!

Someone celebrated the first of her palindrome birthdays--it's the big 1-1 for Bean.

We decided to try another swim party. Her last one, a couple years ago, was stormed out, so we hadn't attempted another. And sure enough, we had storm troubles again.  The girls who were right on time had about 40 minutes to swim before the first thunder rolled in, though, so they did have some water fun.

Bean got new fins for her birthday, which the girls were happy to try out.

 

They lounged,

and splashed.

Bean had quite the assortment of friends--a couple from the neighborhood, a couple from her first grade little group who she always invites, a couple from church, a couple little brothers, and a couple from her most recent class. But with water as the unifying experience, I think everyone had a good time.

When the storm rolled in, it REALLY rolled in. We could see the dark skies and knew that even though we were hoping it would pass us by, we'd mostly likely have to get out of the water for awhile, but we ridiculously still hoped that it would just be a little thunder. The pizzas arrived about 5 minutes after the lifeguards got everyone out of the water, and within 5 minutes of us getting all the food out, the actual storm came--torrential downpour, thunder and lightening all around us. It would have been funny except a couple of the kids were a little scared, I think. We frantically gathered things up and ran for the small overhang of the clubhouse so we could assess how to get 13 kids back to our house in 2 vehicles, along with a van full of pool floats.

 

And what were our kids most concerned about during all this? The 3 helium balloons we'd tied to the deck chairs. Bug actually got hit by an airborne umbrella as he was trying to untie one, and he was still only worried about the balloon that wouldn't come undone. It was kind of hilarious. (We did lose one balloon to the storm, but no kids were lost.)

Back at the house, we fed the kids and did cake and ice cream.

 

At first, I wasn't sure about handing over the cake-decorating reigns to Bean. I've always liked doing the cakes, but she had the ideas and wanted to execute them herself, so I was only there for the actual frosting and the making of the fondant. She got to do all the fun stuff, and it turned out so cute.

She wanted to make a dragon, which was very fitting for this last year of her life when she's been obsessed with the How to Train Your Dragon series (which are hilarious, if anyone is looking for some good kids books), drawing dragons, and playing dragons at recess for a good chunk of the year.

 

After the dragon was made, we decided she needed some people to react to it. I love the Lego scared face and the police officer calling for backup. Pretty funny cake.

 

After the kids spent a solid hour terrorizing the house, the storm had blown over so we headed back to the pool for a little more swim time before all the parents came to pick them up. So it all ended well. A little crazier than the party was supposed to be (we love pool parties for their simplicity, when it doesn't storm), but it all worked out.

 

Happy 11th, Bean!

Stingrays

Swim team--where the kids make friends, exercise, and challenge themselves daily, hanging out in the (relatively) cool water, while their parents melt into a puddle on the pool deck because we're having some of the hottest weather ever. I've sat through plenty of 90 degree swim meets in the past, but this week, the high has between 96-100 every day and last night was so humid (huge thunderstorm rolled in as the meet finished), I kept hoping someone would knock me into the pool.

 

 

Of course it was picture day so we had to get there almost 2 hours before the meet began. Because what's another 2 hours of being outside with limited shade at the hottest time of the day?

But unusually hot weather aside, I really do love swim team. These kids love it, too.

Even this hot little Peanut likes it. He was dripping with sweat while sitting in the shade last night, but still gave me this grin when I pulled out the camera.

 

 

Meets aren't his favorite, but we've figured out that a little Curious George on the tablet goes a long way. And he likes practice since he and I can get in the water, too. He's getting braver every day with the water. I'm hoping for some bubbles with the whole face in by end of summer.

 

Our two swimmers keep getting a little faster each week. The improvements come a little slower as they get older because they've already got the basic stroke down, but they've still both managed to get a PR or two most meets.

 

 Last night, Bean shaved almost 3 seconds off her breaststroke time (and yeah, that's a freestyle pic--I didn't get one of her breaststroke because I was a "runner" at that point) because she learned how to do a real breaststroke start this week. She wants to break a pool record so badly, but she's still got a couple seconds to go and only one more home meet. We'll see what other tweaks she can pull before next week. I do think she could do a little better if she's well rested--she had spent 4 hours in the pool in the middle of the day because of practice and a birthday party. But despite that, she PR'd in both breast and butterfly and helped her medley relay team pull off a come-from-behind win that no one expected. Those 4 girls are troopers and have done some hard racing these last 3 meets with great results.

Bug didn't get any PRs last night, but he still won all 3 of his individual events and helped his relay teams finish first and second. He's been at scout camp during the day all week, outside in near 100 degree weather and was completely wiped out. I'm so proud of him for really pushing himself and giving it everything he's got.

And the best news--when we checked the final results in the morning, we found out our team had won! We've been swimming with this team for 4 years now and this is the first meet we've won (and I've heard it rumored that the losing streak goes back a lot further than that.) The kids were so stoked at practice this morning, especially when the coach rewarded them with a practice full of water volleyball, sharks and minnows, and other games.

Being a Peanut

Visible Facial Injuries: 2 (They're a little hard to see in the picture, but he scraped up his forehead near his hairline and got a lump falling off the swim team benches Thursday night, and then hit his lip falling out of bed Friday night.)

Most Random Meal of the Week: Rice and a slice of cheese for breakfast, with one peach slice which had to have both the peel and the part that had touched the pit removed

Random Dream: Listen to my dream. [Mama, Bean, and Bug] were dead on top of the car because a dinosaur ate you guys. And I was in the back seat while Daddy drives. The dinosaur was dancing while he ate her (pointing at Bean) and you know what? Their necks fell off. The dinosaur got dead on top of the car.

Number of Requests for Curious George: 53 (and I am only exaggerating a little)

Quote of the week: My tummy hurts! I think I have gasoline.

One Week Down

We just finished the first full week of summer, and we're still here to tell the tale, so I'd say we're doing pretty well! Actually, it's been pretty fun, but it's felt a little too busy and a little less productive for me than I'd hoped. I think this happens at the beginning of every summer, so I should stop being surprised, but maybe I'm more of an optimist than I think because I always head in with big plans and this false sense of my ability to do everything during the summer.

 

While I may not have accomplished much on my personal goals or "to do" list this last week, we have done a lot:

Swimming has played a prominent role in our week, as always. The regular public schools didn't get out until Thursday, so we've had afternoon swim practice all week, as well as our first meet on Thursday night and the Lap-a-thon on Friday night. The kids both had a solid first meet. Bug had two PRs in freestyle and breaststroke, which he's been working on this year. Bean swam her first IM (and was so wiped out at the end of the 100 M, but was really excited to be doing this race this year) and then made up a lot of time in her breaststroke lap for her medley relay, which took first place in what was probably the closest race of the night.

The next night, they were back at the pool to see how far they could swim in an hour. They both had the goal of swimming a mile--64 lengths of the pool--and really pushed themselves. Bean made it to 68, Bug did 62 (and then hopped back in the pool to swim the last 2 laps he needed as soon as he could.) Crazier than swimming a mile was the fact that they spent another hour and a half swimming relays, going off the diving board, and generally playing around. I was exhausted just watching.

 

Our responsibility charts have also resurfaced for the summer. I tried to simplify things a bit this year, both with the amount of things that I'm asking them to do and with our reward system. Basically, when the 6 daily items are done (Chores, Spiritual, Reading, Education, Service, and one Happiness habit), they take turns picking something from our chart of fun and that's what we get to do that day. Some are surprises, and some only available on certain days, most are just small things that they can choose from, like going to a park or the library, getting out a craft project, or watching a movie. They've picked a variety so far, with some suggestions from me on what would work best in the time we had available, and surprisingly, we've only watched one movie. The most complicated part of this all is that there are too many days that we have actual scheduled things as well as playdates planned with friends in the late afternoon/evening, which make it hard to just let them blindly pick what our fun will be for the day. Especially when our day doesn't "start" until after noon. And then there's the fact that I'm not getting many of the things on my own chart done because I'm too busy helping the kids get their work done, and then playing with them to actually have any time for myself during the day. But we're working out the kinks.

One day, our previous plans fell through and we ended up close to a park I'd been wanting to check out, so I pushed for that to be the "choice" of the day (and since it was Peanut's turn to choose, I had a lot more sway than I would with the other two). The older kids were reluctant until they saw the park, which turned out to have some pretty awesome climbing equipment. And the park was right by Lake Norman, so we stopped by the boat launch area and watched the boats for a bit before we went home.

Saturday was the day of partying because we seem to know a lot of people with June birthdays.

 

Bug had a classmate's party up on the lake in the morning, and then he and Daddy-o met the rest of us at a neighbor's party that afternoon. There was some classic backyard fun--water balloon launching and fights, a piñata, hunting for "diamonds". The kids all had fun in the sweltering mid-nineties heat before everyone retreated to the indoors.

 

I think the kids would say this first week has been a success. Next week everything gets changed up because of Cub scout camp, so we'll see what we can maintain and if I can find a little time to write each day, or if that is a pipe dream until school's back in session.

Getting Dirty

What could be more fun than a Saturday service project that involves mud and friends? Our church spent the morning at the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve helping out with a few projects, including cleaning out the little pond area and lining the bed with rocks. The kids were all excited to help out with that one, of course.

And of course, in the process, Peanut fell into the muddy water.

It only took a few seconds for his friends to decide to join him. They had fun playing for awhile, and then almost as much fun getting hosed off. It wasn't until the walking-around-wet part that it stopped being so fun. But overall, this goes down as a fun activity. I like it when the kids think doing service is fun. And the new play area didn't hurt, either.

 

Once lunch was over, we had to run home to get cleaned up and then head to the church for the baptism of one of the little boys in my primary class. He was the last one from my class for the year and I was glad that it worked out that we could be there for his big day.

Then, there was a little yard work to do around our own house and while we were out there, I decided that we should finally get out the croquet set that we bought 3 or 4 years ago and teach the kids how to play.

I hadn't played croquet since I was about Bean's age, but I do remember loving it. We had my grandparent's old set, which was a lot more solid than this cheap one from Walmart, but this one works more or less.

 And it was mostly fun, although of course there were tears. I doubt there are any games we can play as a family that won't involve tears at this stage of our lives, but I live in hope of reaching that place some day. I've heard it's nice there.

At least the tears didn't last forever. These guys were taking a little snuggle break and checking on Tumtum who got to join the family outside and pig out on the grass. Poor little guinea doesn't make it out into the real world very often.

In other fun news of the week, I got to go to my first Activity Days on Tuesday night--an ice cream and game night to celebrate the end of school. It was the last night for their previous leader who moves next week, and then I'll be planning and running their activities from now on. I'm pretty excited. I've thought this job sounded fun ever since Bean was born, and it's now her last year in the program, so I'm glad I'll get to do this with her before she moves on.

And finally, a picture from swim practice on the last day of school, which was a very un-summery type day. The kids were FREEZING at practice that night. I think it was 66 and breezy, and the water, according to Bug, was deathly cold from the rain the day before. At least the cold only lasted for a couple days and now were back to normal summer weather. They did an intra-squad meet on Friday night to get their base times before the regular meets start next week and it was nice and hot for all the parents sitting on the deck. Kids did pretty good, although Bean choked, literally, on her butterfly, so we'll have to see what that looks like next week. But it looks like it will be a good season.